Let's say you're a really good home baker, so good that all your friends want what you're making and insist on paying you for those cakes or pies or cookies.
In a whole bunch of states, from Rhode Island to California, that wouldn't be a terrible...

You'd think that Rob Ford, Toronto's crack-smoking-oral-sex-denying-binge-drinking buffoon of a mayor, would be a tough dude to top in any screw-up contest for local politicians.
It's true that Ford's antics have provided an insane amount of...

At least 25 homes in East Haven were destroyed, one person has died, others are missing and more than half the state is without power after Tropical Storm Irene tore through Connecticut Sunday.
East Haven mayor April Capone said that at least 25 homes in...

Los Angeles County officials Thursday released a previously withheld "confidential" memo that outlined a proposal by the director of Health Services to consolidate two other health-related agencies under his department.
County supervisors voted...

Riverside prosecutors said a Menifee councilman was arrested and charged Thursday on suspicion of having a conflict of interest, using his position for financial gain and not having a license for an event venue he owns.
Thomas Fuhrman was arrested at a city park and booked at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on $5,000 bail, according to authorities.
Shortly after his arrest he was charged with one felony and seven misdemeanors, said John Hall, a spokesman with the Riverside County...

At the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce this week, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez kicked off a cross-country, pre-Labor Day tour to champion higher minimum wages, higher-wage jobs and other causes in talks with employers, workers and local leaders.
Perez told the chamber audience at a luncheon Monday that the nation faced two major challenges -- a stagnation in wage growth and the increase in long-term unemployed workers. He also noted the decline in the unemployment rate and improving...

In recent weeks, the web has been buzzing with excitement over Palcohol, the powdered alcohol that can turn water into vodka, rum or any one of four specialty cocktails. While it remains unclear when — or if — the product will hit stores, due in part to some backtracking by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), states including Vermont and Minnesota are already moving to ban it.
In early April, the TTB granted Palcohol label approval, then rescinded it roughly two weeks later,...

PEORIA—When Jon Daniel created a Twitter account spoofing the town’s mayor in March, he planned to entertain friends with a steady stream of occasionally profane and often sophomoric messages.
The Peoria native said he had no animosity toward Mayor Jim Ardis when he uploaded his official portrait to the page and started tweeting under the handle @peoriamayor. With Twitter hosting thousands of accounts parodying athletes, actors and politicians, Daniel decided Peoria’s biggest celebrity...